TEEK CULTURE IN SOUTH AUSTEAllA. 7 



or six inclies. Now multiply the area of the watered region by six 

 inches, and you have a flood of fearful magnitude — especially if the- 

 country is rolling. 



" Let the same amount fall in a forest. You watch it as it falls. Ten 

 thousand leaves on every tree catch and hold the drops, and when they 

 strike the ground there are six inches of leaf -mould, and the ground 

 itself for a foot in depth is very porous, the leaves hold it till the ground 

 drinks it in ; the old rotten logs are aU like sponges, and if the ground 

 mulch cannot retain it, all the roots seem to bidld dams to obstruct it, 

 and though so much rain has fallen the streams are hardly swollen. And 

 now we see the design of this surface cistern. The water begins to ooze 

 out by slow degrees, and when the streams of the open country have run 

 themselves dry, and the ground is baked for the want of more rain, the 

 wood-fed streams are in their full flow. The navigation of our finest 

 rivers is already affected by thoughtless destruction of the forests. When 

 will man learn that God ma:de trees for more purposes than the lumber 

 in them." 



Our Rainfall would he Equalised. — In this colony, the climate of which 

 is considered very dry, nearly as much rain falls within the twelve 

 months as there falls within a same period in some countries which are 

 really humid ones. In moist climates we find that on nearly three- 

 fourths of the days of the year rain faUs more or less. In this country, 

 again, there are at least three-fourths of the twelve months which are 

 entirely cloudless. And still the rainfall in both instances is not in like 

 manner disproportionate so far as the total' amounts for the year are 

 concerned. These appear somewhat contradictory statements, but yet 

 they are approximately correct for many cases which could be cited. 

 The reason of the difference is not that the one country lies perhaps in 

 the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern, or that the one 

 may be 15 degrees nearer the equator than the other. No; the grand 

 secret is that the country which has its rainfall spread over the whole 

 year is thickly covered with trees, while in the case of our colony there 

 is a very small proportion of its area occupied by forests. In two or 

 three hours in this country as much rain will fall as would occupy two 

 days steady drizzling in Great Britain. 



More Rain would Fall. — That this would be the result of extensive 

 planting in the colony there is no doubt. Eeliable experiments and 

 observations have shown clearly that this is invariably the case where 

 large bodies of plantations are formed. To put the matter specifically 

 we find (1) from the shade given by the trees the temperature of the 

 earth is lowered ; (2) the atmosphere hovering immediately above the 

 trees is in consequence also lower than that in any part of the country 

 adjoining which may be clear of vegetation ; consequently it follows (3) 

 that if hot winds blow over a plantation they wUl be cooled down and 

 their moistxu'e condensed upon coming in contact with the cool humid 

 atmosphere hanging about the trees, and as their power of holding water 

 ia a condition of vapor is sensibly diminished in a certain ratio according 

 to the fall of temperature, the result is a deposit on the ground of either 

 rain, mist, or dew ; and again (4) clouds containing vapour, which have 



